Friday, March 10, 2006

Bogus Iraq Poll

Am I the only one who no longer care's about polls? Here's partly the reason why:

According to a recent Zogby poll, 72 percent of U.S. troops say it's time to withdraw from Iraq...
The unforgivable flaw in Zogby's survey is the biased phrasing of its questions and answers. Two of the most provocative results are based on questions with no middle ground. It's like a multiple-choice test with no right answers.
For example, the widespread finding that three in four soldiers think the United States should withdraw from Iraq within a year has only one option for troops who think otherwise: stay indefinitely. This infamous question asks, "How long should U.S. troops stay in Iraq?" But the first three answers are not phrased in terms of staying, they are phrased "withdraw...," "withdraw..." and "withdraw... ." Where are the options for troops who think the United States should stay for "one to two years" or "two to five years"? Zogby omits such nuance. It's stay or go. Now or never.

Please read the whole thing. it seems polsters are getting smarter at flubbing polls.
Also Austin Bay weighs in.